in south koreaest's hard-fought presidential election. the republic of korea is one of our nation's closest friends in asia. ours is a steadfast alliance forged in the crucible of war. two decades ago, with all eyes on europe, the united states prematurely celebrated victory over communism and an end to the cold war but in 1989, the same year the berlin wall fell, tanks roll spood tiananmen square crushing in a bloody massacre the hopes of the chinese people. while communism was gone in europe it was revitalized in the world's largest nation. pyongyang's missile launch awakens us to a fact that communism still casts a long shadow over asia. the nuclear proliveuation threaten not only our allies in the pacific but our own people as well. in asia the cold war never ended an the united states and south korean forces stand guard together on this last frontier. attempts to engage pyongyang over the past four years have been met with repeated prove cage. the kidnapping of two american journalists, repeated missile launches, one more nuclear tes